Pregnancy, Diabetes & Mental Health

Taking Care of Your Mental Health and T1D while Pregnant

By: Carrie Lane @OfficialCarrieLane
Being pregnant is a journey that is comprised of many different emotions and the thing that people don’t want to talk about is…… not all of them are positive! Yes, the journey is incredibly rewarding and truly unbelievable, but it is also hard, hard work. When you throw in an auto immune disease, let's just say that the process is extra hard!

Having a high risk pregnancy means lots of extra precautions: tests, doctors appointments, sleepless nights, and mostly more time and attention than you can truly prepare for. Luckily, there are ways to cope and ready yourself (as much as you can for this experience) and one of the most important ways is remembering to make your mental health a priority.

Before my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby, I made sure that I had checked in with all of my health care providers to get the “green light.” This included a visit to my psychiatrist. At the time, I was on an antidepressant that was not safe for pregnancy. I wanted to safely transition to one that is safe for pregnancy before conceiving. Now, there is a lot of literature and research out there that says whether or not it is “safe” to be on mental health meds when you are pregnant. The truth is, no medicine is 100% proven to be safe when you are pregnant. However, everything is about seeing if the pros outweigh the cons. If you have a heart condition, it is more important to stay on a medicine so that your heart works properly than to go off the medication and risk a heart attack… right? Same goes for the chemicals in your brain!

It is so important to take care of your mental health when you are pregnant and make sure that you are prepared to deal with all of the hormonal and physical changes that your body is going through. In order to be the best mom I can be, I need to be mentally stable and for me, that means meds. For you, this might be different! This is a conversation that you should have with your doctor!! Not your friends. Not your mom. Definitely not Facebook. No where on the internet! A true medical professional and you are the only ones who will be able to best decide together how to best care for your mental health during pregnancy.

Once you’re prepared, the journey can begin. For me, my first trimester was incredibly difficult. I had an infection that had me hospitalized for over a week and morning sickness that lasted months on end. I was truly miserable and didn’t feel like myself. My second trimester left me feeling better physically, but the emotional side effects of my ever-changing body have been a lot to manage (on top of working full-time and being a full-time student).

​So how do I handle it? Healthy practices. Nutritious food. Good company. Lots of laughs. And therapy and meds. I have a great mental health care team in place and I see them regularly. I check in with my therapist and have a session once a week and I see my psychiatrist once a month. I know I can call either at any time if I need help or to make any adjustments. I feel safe and supported and have a team around me that I know is there to help me when things get hard. Luckily, with all of the support I have put in place around me in addition to the healthy practices that I have prioritized for me in my baby--- T1D and Mental Health are no match for this mama

Articles on T1D, Mental Health & Pregnancy/Motherhood

There was such a disappointing amount of media in the diabetes literature about this. But it is our mission to find as much/everything out there, so you have an easy all access place to visit when you're feeling overwhelmed as a soon to be mama whose still a 24/7 pancreas (but now for two!!) 

​4/5/2019. OmniPod: Going Blue: Mom and Daughter Face Autism and Type 1 Together

Case Studies and/or Academic Research

BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth (July, 2019): Diabetes distress is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with gestational diabetes: a prospective cohort study
BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth (Feb, 2019): How diet, physical activity & psychosocial well-being interact in women with gestational DM: Integrative review
Journal of Affective Disorders (Dec, 2018): Association between gestational diabetes mellitus & postpartum depressive symptomatology: Prospective cohort study
BMJ Diabetes & Endocrinology (2018): Improving cardiometabolic and mental health in women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their offspring
Quarterly Journal of Medicine (Nov, 2017): Worse medical outcomes in Type 1 Diabetes pregnancy but worse psychological outcomes in gestational diabetes.
Diabetes Metabolism Research & Review (Aug, 2017): Changing psychosocial determinants of physical activity & diet in women with a history of gestational DM.
Journal of Diabetes Research (June, 2017): Depressive Symptoms in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The LINDA-Brazil Study
World Journal of Diabetes (Nov, 2016): Relationship between depression and diabetes in pregnancy: A systematic review
Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica (Oct, 2016): Quality of life, anxiety and depression symptoms in early and late pregnancy in women with pregestational diabetes
Diabetic Medicine (April, 2015) Mental health in early pregnancy is associated with pregnancy outcome in women with pregestational diabetes
Maternal Child & Health Journal (Nov, 2013): Factors associated wit depressive symptoms in early postpartum period among women with recent gestational DM
​​BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (Nov, 2013): Psychosocial issues of women with type 1 diabetes transitioning to motherhood: a structured literature review
Journal of Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Medicine (Feb, 2013): Pregnancy in women with type 1 diabetes: Have the goals of St. Vincent 's declaration been met concerning fetal & neonatal complications?
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (Feb, 2013): Transition to motherhood in type 1 diabetes: design of pregnancy & postnatal well-being in transition questionnaires.
Quality of Life Research (March, 2012): Quality of life in pregnancy and post-partum: a study in diabetic patients.
Endocrine (2011): The impact of pregnancy planning and a comparison of T1D subjects Glycemic control and pregnancy outcomes in women with T2D from Poland.
Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology (Feb, 2011): Women with diabetes in pregnancy: different perceptions and expectations
​Karger: Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal (May, 2010):  Diabetes mellitus in pregnancy - a Mental Strain?
Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecological & Neonatal Nursing (2009): Review of Health Beliefs & Lifestyle Behaviors of Women with Previous Gestational Diabetes​
Midwifery (April, 2009): Juggling type 1 diabetes and pregnancy in rural Australia
Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology(Sept, 2005): Outcomes of pregnancies in women with preexisting type 1 or type 2 diabetes, in an ethnically mixed population.​
Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (Dec, 2003): Outcomes of pregnancies in women with type 1 diabetes in Scotland: a national population‐based study
The Diabetes Educator (July 2000): Comparison of Pregnancy Mood Profiles in Gestational Diabetes and Preexisting Diabetes
International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine (June, 1993): Self-Reported Compliance with Diabetes Self-Management during Pregnancy
Diabetes Care (1990): Impact of social support and stress on compliance in women with gestational diabetes.
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